The head of the bidding office for Veal Veng district in Pursat province was sent to pre-trial detention yesterday on allegations of falsifying paperwork for locals seeking land ownership documents.

Heng Donin, Pursat Provincial Court spokesman, confirmed the detention and said district bidding chief Prak Ratana had been charged with “faking public documents”.

Ratana, 32, was arrested on Saturday over alleged malfeasance dating back to 2011, according to Theang Leng, Veal Veng district police chief.

“He replicated the stamps used by the communes and approved land sales for whoever came to him for a land sale. He charged them between $120 and $150. All documents he approved, he dated from 2000,” Leng said.

According to Leng, the chiefs of two communes in Veal Veng had issued land ownership documents to locals there in 2000, but the documents were later deemed invalid after they were found to have granted the same land to multiple owners. Leng said the total amount of land transferred was about 100 hectares.